Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the egg and you

The Detroit Red Wings entered Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers in a 4-way tie for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, which the Ottawa Senators owned due to a regulation wins tiebreaker:

As such, both Saturday’s 12:30 PM matinee in New York, and Sunday’s 1 PM home matinee against Minnesota, stood as very close to must-win games.

On Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, the Red Wings absolutely squandered a golden opportunity, falling on their faces en route to a 4-1 loss to the Rangers. Gabe Perreault scored a natural hat trick, David Perron broke Jonathan Quick’s shutout with only 33 seconds remaining in regulation time, and the Red Wings just…

They fell on their faces, frankly. Gibson was good but got little help, Dylan Larkin, injuries and all, was the Wings’ best player by far, and Detroit played intimidated.

It was really ugly, and now the Wings have to regroup and play Minnesota tomorrow at 1 PM on TNT.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jonathan Quick led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Rangers don’t post their full lineup, so here’s Newsday’s Colin Stephenson’s assessment of New York’s pregame line rushes:

And the Red Wings posted their revised lineup (Rasmussen in, ASP in, Appleton and Faulk out) just before game time:

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

PENALTY: Andrew Copp tripped Alexis Lafreniere, who dove, at 4:54, and the Wings headed to the PK.

GOAL: Off a terrible board battle lost in the Wings’ left corner boards, the Rangers pumped the puck back to Vladislav Gavrikov, he blasted a hard shot through a Lucas Raymond screen, and Jaroslav Chmelar sent a tip over John Gibson, who had no chance on the tip.

Rangers 1, Detroit 0: Chmelar (4) from Gavrikov (9) and Adam Sykora (1) at 13:19 1st period.

PENALTY: J.T. Miller grabbed J.T. Compher in the Rangers’ low slot and sat for interference at 15:13 of the 1st period.

Jonathan Quick made a tremendous late-period save as well…

As such…

2ND PERIOD:

PENALTY: Drew Fortescue headed to the box for slashing at 13:04 of the 2nd period.

GOAL: Instead, the New York Rangers made it 2-0 when Mika Zibanejad centered the puck from behind the net to Gabe Perreault, who got away from a pile of Wings and Rangers and was all alone and able to chip the puck over John Gibson at 15:59 of the 2nd period.

Rangers 2, Detroit 0: Perreault (8) from Zibanejad (39) and Robertson (12) at 15:59 2nd period.

By the end of the 2nd period, Moritz Seider and Alex DeBrincat were heard swearing on the rink mics. Detroit was getting incredibly frustrated.

3RD PERIOD:

PENALTIES AND FIGHT: Ben Chiarot took a high-sticking penalty and then a fighting major as he fought Will Cuylle at 5:44 of the 3rd period. Cuylle fought back and got a major for fighting as well.

It was a good fight. Chiarot and Cuylle fought to a strong draw.

GOAL: On the power play, Adam Fox sent the puck up to Gabe Perreault up the defensive zone, Perreault passed the puck to Jonny Brodzinski, and he reversed the flow to Perreault, who evaded both Simon Edvinsson and Moritz Seider’s “poke and hope” backchecks to tap an easy power play marker in, again, with Gibson not having a chance to stop the puck.

Rangers 3, Detroit 0: Perreault (9) from Brodzinski (9) and Fox (39) at 7:13 3rd period.

PENALTY: Conor Sheary took a high-sticking minor at 8:19 of the 3rd period.

PENALTY: Noah Laba high-sticked James van Riemsdyk at 14:15 of the 3rd period.

GOALIE PULL: The Red Wings pulled John Gibson with 5:45 left in the 3rd period.

TIMEOUT: Detroit called a timeout at 17:31 of the 3rd period.

GOAL: Gabe Perreault scored his hat trick goal at 18:16, into an empty net, from J.T. Miller and Adam Fox.

Rangers 4, Detroit 0: Perreault (10) from Miller (32) and Fox (40) at 18:16, empty net.

GOAL: David Perron scored at 19:26 of the 3rd period, jabbing a puck off a Rangers defenseman’s legs off a pass from Emmitt Finnie laterally across the goal crease.

Rangers 4, Detroit 1: Perron (11) from Finnie (16) and van Riemsdyk (15) at 19:27 3rd period.

STATISTICS: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!